L'Île de Wight a plus de 90 kilomètres de plage
by kirukashi
Summary: He conquers who endures. Short ONE SHOT with an OC of mine & Yuko Oshima the 9th/Hikari Kimishima. AU of sorts. Enjoy.


What was it that brought them together, to be united in this perfect love?

Escher must have been delivered to her by fate. Yuko Oshima the 9th had uncharacteristically found herself at death's door when Escher, in a moment of great courage, saved her. From then on, they were inseparable. They shared every part of their life with each other. That was how it was to this very day.

Yes. He often reflected upon that day with fondness. It was a day that had changed his life, after all.

Escher, an unblemished young man in his best years, stood alone on the beach, gazing over the ocean-colored water with his caring bronze windows to his soul. His starless hair rustled lightly in the ocean breeze. He smiled to himself with anticipation, resting his cheek against one hand as he adjusted his sable glasses.

He wore a many-colored shirt that left his ivory, tinted with light brown, arms bare and copper shorts that looked comfortable and easy to wear. His raven hair was trimmed short around his head, complementing his gentle blush-colored-flushed silvery visage. An onyx growth of hair adorned his chin. For a moment, he absorbed herself in these thoughts, of him, and Yuko Oshima the 9th.

"Escher," Yuko Oshima the 9th said simply with an admiring look-over and a beaming grin. Her sorrel windows to her soul complimented her flaming mane, belying her passionate heart. She was dressed in her usual everyday clothes. She had a toned but slender body covered with alabaster, tinted with khaki, skin. A heart symbol marked her hair.

"Oh, Yuuko-san! You came!" Escher said breathlessly, reaching out to take her into an embrace. With that, they began to walk along the beach.

The air was salty and warm, the sun sparkling bright and the waves foam-crested and teal, and yet Escher could not let himself be happy. He wanted to reach for Yuko's steady hand, always a comfort, but it was his sudden, unexplainable sadness - who was he to burden Yuko with that? Although he tried to stop them, his lips trembled, gemstone orbs filling with unshed tears.

But he couldn't hide from Yuko. She took him by the hand and drew him toward herself, and when he looked up into her face she had a smile warmer than the sun.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "You look so sad!"

He tried to smile, to show her that he was happy there, with her, but his pastel lips would not obey him.

"I'm sorry," he lamented softly, ducking his head. Her fingers, soft but gentle, tipped his chin up.

"Don't be!" she ejected worriedly, warm globes searching out his own. "I don't ever want you to be sad! I know, I'll tell you a joke! A WOTA member, Acchan, and Tsubasa-san all walk into this bar..."

"Please," Escher breathed. He shook his head violently. "No jokes. I should be happy, for you. It's really nothing, nothing at all..."

He turned away as the tears came anew, spilling like pearls over his cheeks. Yuko was quiet for a moment. Her arms circled around him and he let himself lean back against her strong, lean chest. He always felt safest when he was with her.

"I don't want there to be anything between us," Yuko said softly. "I love you, Escher."

"Oh, Yuuko-san," he sighed adoringly. He turned in her arms and caught her face between his delicate hands. For a long moment, all they did was gaze into each other's eyes, each filled to the brim with emotions unspoken, deeper than the ocean all around them.

After a few moments, they found themselves walking down the beach again. It seemed to Escher that something had been bothering Yuko for the last few hours - or maybe longer than that. Her determined hardened toast-colored spheres were cast down and away, focused upon nothing in particular.

He really didn't want her to be troubled. He felt her pain as if it were his own. Tilting his head, he murmured, "Yuko... what's wrong?"

"Escher... it's, just..."

Escher slipped both of his hands into hers, gazing into her audacious but sorrowful depths. "Yuk... I'll listen."

She took a deep breath and gazed back into his cinnamon orbs with a look full of daring sadness, whispering, "It's just... I'm just no good, Escher. I can never do anything right, heh. I guess, I'm sorry. I just ruin everything. I'll probably ruin this, heh. I... forget it. I just can't..."

Escher listened quietly, pain flashing across his features as Yuko recounted her sorrows. At last, she finished, and a moment of silence passed between them.

She seemed so pained and unsure. He brought his head against her chest in reassurance, murmuring, "I... Yuko, that's... that's something I've felt too. My legacy of failure... sometimes, sometimes I remember it again, and it hurts... just like that. ...You're not alone, Yuko." Escher brushed his fingertips against Yuko's arm. Yuko's eyes began to redden, and she abruptly pulled him into a fierce embrace. His spheres widened at first, but then he too felt overwhelmed by emotion and succumbed to the warmth of her touch.

"You," Yuko whispered, her breath hot on his ear. "As long as you're here, I'll be alright." They held each other as tears trickled down cheeks and dripped onto the shifting sands to be carried away into the sea. With time and soothing embraces, their pain dissipated into a mist swept out by the ocean breeze and into the setting sun.

They basked in each other's quiet companionship for a few moments.

"Look... it's the sunset."

Escher lifted his head at Yuko's words to behold the dying sun's flaming radiance. "How beautiful."

After a moment of silence, she said quietly and seriously, "It's destiny, isn't it. Us, together."

He clasped her soft hand and murmured in response, "A love this true must be fated to be."

She brought their clasped hands to her lips. "As long as the world goes on, as long as time flows... we will be together."

Escher sighed with contentment and brought her closer. He gazed at the beautiful blonde rays of the falling sun, thinking about everything that had transpired on this day and all that would pass between them.

"I love you, Yuuko-san."

"I love you too, Escher."

Their lips met, and atramentaceous strands met carrot-colored ones, aflame in the dying light. The sand was their witness and the rumbling ocean their approving audience, and Yuko Oshima the 9th, his eternally faithful lover. Escher thought to himself that nothing could be more perfect in the world.

Nothing at all.


End file.
